Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[wudpirat]

In the 1940's most of our towns and cities had Elm tree line streets. New Haven is still called " The Elm City".
The came DED, those tall majestic Elms had to be cut down. As a grade schooler, I watched some of those Elms come down.
Some of the stumps measure well over six feet in dia. No bucket trucks, all rope work and hand saws.
Some of the then new Nylon rope where used, lots of stretch and cussing.
I have some elm growing on my property, but after they reach 12"-14", they die off but they seem to have left a lot of saplings to fight the Maples for sun light.
I harvest what Elm I can, burns great, splits terrible, use the hydro for sure.
I did get permission to scroung a blow down maple from both property owners. They didn't know whos tree is was.
Was it Tom's tree on Dwane's property or Dwane's on Tom's, got the OK from both. It's down hill to the road.

 

[benp]

Welp.

I got her done. 2 hrs of straight busting my ass but it's scrounged, processed, hauled and stacked.

It took 2 wagon loads but I got it.

And yep, I believe you guys are 100% correct with the Elm.

Here's a picture of the bark when I first started in.



First round. Definitely not Sugar Maple. lol


It laughed at the Fiskars. So out came the 28" 7900 for noodle time.

The setup.


All noodled. This stuff was tough. Definitely worked the snot out of the 7900's.


First load out back to the house.


Second load out of 2 other downed Elms from the immediate vicinity.


A neat thing when just hucking the pieces out at the wood pile was the loud clank that just echoed through the woods as they hit each other. They are dry and heavy.

And were ready to burn yesterday. Perfect.

 

[farmer steve]

Nice haul Ben. the last pic in the wagon confirms ELM. i only cut it if it don't need split. guess i'm a snob scrounger.

 

[nomad_archer]

Here's a like new 28" with 2 chains in the trading post.

http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/like-new-28-windsor-speed-tip-w-2-chains.284755/

Looks like svk picked this up. [emoji106]

 

[svk]

Looks like svk picked this up. [emoji106]

Yep!

 

[stihly dan]

You suck!!! Are you ever off the site? Or is your job a staff member? That is said in a friendly, Jealous, resentment.

 

[svk]

You suck!!! Are you ever off the site? Or is your job a staff member? That is said in a friendly, Jealous, resentment.

I'm off for hours on end. Benp put me onto the bar and chains

 

[stihly dan]

That damn pinp!

 

[MustangMike]

Pirat,

That Elm in my back yard is well past your limit, which is why I'm reluctant to cut it. It is about 20". There is also a 30+" dead one on that wood lot I have permission to cut, did not have the hydro last year so I left it, maybe this year. There is also a nice dead Ash there, but I would have to close the road for a bit to take it.

Steve, congrats on the bar purchase, now we will want a full report on how that beast handles the big bar.

 

[benp]

Nice haul Ben. the last pic in the wagon confirms ELM. i only cut it if it don't need split. guess i'm a snob scrounger.

That's why a noodler is imperative to have in a scroungers arsenal.

That last haul picture...they are going in whole. I don't bring out rounds to be processed.

 

[tickhound93]

find a local dairy farmer who pastures their cows. there is almost always dead trees on the ground. plus the grass is short, makes for easy cutting, and they wont mind having some of the tripping hazards for their cattle removed, give it a shot.

 

[nomad_archer]

Santa mailman came. Took less than 2 days.

 

[svk]

It's been a successful week of scrounging at the SVK household. Last Friday I scored this Husky mower with one season of use for a hundred bucks ($450 msrp), Sunday I bought the 2186 from mesupra, and yesterday benp put me onto a nice 28" bar and chains in the trading post. Today my new Husky splitting axe is supposed to arrive. Wish I could shop like this every week!

 

[nomad_archer]

Nice score SVK.
I am thinking about ordering a 28" power match bar from LCS because of how fast my order made it here and the bar is only $64 with free shipping if I order another loop of chain that is one special.

 

[svk]

Nice score SVK.
I am thinking about ordering a 28" power match bar from LCS because of how fast my order made it here and the bar is only $64 with free shipping if I order another loop of chain that is one special.

That's a good deal. The best I was seeing was around 70 shipped for a new one.

 

[Mike Mulback]

View attachment 443582 View attachment 443583
I couple loads of Red Oak

Got to love it loads with only several rounds, Good stuff

 

[dancan]

Did I show you guys this week's Zogger wood ??

I ended up with a bunch of this eastern white cedar for kindling up to about 6" cedar from a clump of cedar that Pioneerguy600 and I thinned out .

 

[dancan]

Another large day up here so I decided I'd go tractor atving and scout out a few more trails .

Spotted many dead hardwood tops in the horizon
All was going well until ....

I'll save that trail for the atv LOL

Seen plenty of wood on today's run , some of it like those large hard maples will be a challenge to get out because of terrain but I'm up for the challenge
I didn't go home empty handed , brought a small load home to add to next year's wood .

 

[zogger]

Did I show you guys this week's Zogger wood ??

I ended up with a bunch of this eastern white cedar for kindling up to about 6" cedar from a clump of cedar that Pioneerguy600 and I thinned out .

Nice load, I like wood that doesn't need splitting, but I'll take it all one inch on up... I've been watching a pro mechanized forestry outfit up the road clearing, I would guesstimate about only 20% of the wood mass goes out as logs, the rest of it is being chipped. They have whopper equipment.

 

[svk]

Went to my neighbor's wood lot to restock the firewood supply. I had planned on loading up on cherry and oak but he wanted a forked box elder removed so since he lets me take wood whenever I want, I gladly took it down for him.

My S2800 Husky axe hasn't arrived yet so we only had the leveraxes. They worked well on the cherry and smaller BE but I needed to noodle quite a few of the larger pieces. This wasn't a problem as I got more trigger time with the 2186 .

The Leveraxes had sat for some time so needed a little swelling.


Refreshments for the crew!


K testing the saw.


Recently evicted box elder bugs taking refuge.

Good load.


Only had 1/2 mile to drive so didn't worry about filling er up.


My kids tested out the Leveraxe 2.


Pretty noodles


Making progress.